Engagement Meter: See the top social posts of last week

Sometimes brands choose to weigh in on social issues, other times they’re dragged aboard. Last week, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump handed Tic Tac 2016’s least-enviable product placement when he mentioned the brand in the infamous 2005 Entertainment Weekly in which he boasted of groping women. Though the brand would have preferred to be left out of the incident, its response was among the most popular social media posts of the week. Meanwhile, CoverGirl, Campbell’s and Ben & Jerry’s earned attention by willingly taking stances on social issues.

Unmetric, a social-media intelligence firm, uses an analytics platform to track brands with the highest amount of engagement for posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Unmetric’s engagement score rates each post from 0 to 1,000, depending on the amount of user interactions.

A photo posted by COVERGIRL (@covergirl) on Oct 11, 2016 at 7:03am PDT

The beauty brand’s announcement last week of its first male spokesman inspired a ton of headlines and shares on social media. James Charles, the 17-year-old makeup artist and social media influencer, is the new star for CoverGirl. He has been filling his Instagram account with pictures of himself wearing and experimenting with makeup for the past year. The brand’s Instagram post announcing the partnership received 42,900 likes and 8,165 comments. In the post, the brand asked people to share the news with the hashtag #covergirljames. More than 700 Instagrammers did so, mostly with messages of appreciation. One fan wrote, "Finally something different with CoverGirl and I am loving it!"

Tic Tac

Tic Tac respects all women. We find the recent statements and behavior completely inappropriate and unacceptable.

Tic Tac, like Skittles, has been dragged into the Presidential election. After The Washington Post published a video of a taped conversation in which Trump made vulgar comments about forcefully kissing and groping at women—and popping some Tic Tacs to avoid offending anyone with his breath— the mint brand felt compelled to make a statement. In the video, Trump says, "I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her." In a tweet that generated 90,124 likes and 56,589 retweets, the mint brand stated that it didn’t condone Trump’s behavior and that it "respects all women."

Girls can be superheroes, too! Last week, Campbell’s garnered 3,319 likes and 1,217 retweets for this post that shows a kid climbing around her house Spiderman-style. In the 15-second video, Little Spidey is revealed to be a girl when she sits down to enjoy her Campbell’s soup. The video is part of the brand’s "Real, Real Life" campaign, a push to tap into what is really going on in people’s lives when it’s time for a bowlful of soup.

As Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Florida, Duracell announced that its PowerForward truck was on its way to Brevard and Volusia counties, offering free batteries and a mobile charging station. The tweet received 2,520 likes and 893 retweets.

Gas guzzlers are harming the environment, and Tesla is out to remedy this. In a tweet that received 7,413 likes and 3,213 retweets, the electric car brand announced that its drivers had collectively saved the world from being polluted by 120 million gallons of gas. (Whether that’s really something for environmentalists to celebrate is still up for debate.)

In an Instagram post that generated 32,700 likes and 7,903 comments, the ice-cream brand posted a simple slogan to share their support for the "Black Lives Matter" movement. One commenter wrote, "Only ice cream I buy from now on!"